\u201c So, journalist, eh?\u201d the guy chewing on the swizzle stick across the table from me was saying to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, yes,\u201d I sighed. I didn\u2019t know well enough then. Didn\u2019t know not to engage this sort of fellow.<\/p>\n
He snorted. \u201cWell, I can ask good questions,\u201d he boasted. \u201cJust try me! I bet I can ask better questions than you. Oh, I know \u2013 a contest!\u201d<\/p>\n
I got that feeling in my throat. I wanted to cry.
\nBut I didn\u2019t. And I didn\u2019t yet know: This isn\u2019 how it\u2019s supposed to feel. If you want to cry within the first few minutes of a date, you shouldn\u2019t stay.
\nBut stay I did.<\/p>\n
And I let him ask questions that escalated in their riskiness, in their personal nature, in their shock value.<\/p>\n
He asked me all the standard Grade A \u201cTruth and Dare\u2019 throwaways: Where was the first place, the most crazy place, the place you always wanted to? What\u2019s the best lie you ever told? What would you cheat for?<\/p>\n
It reminded me of eighth grade, playing scruples with my best friend J and our two best guy friends. Little did I know they\u2019d be the first of many fake boyfriends I\u2019d have throughout my life.<\/p>\n
Swizzle Stick’s questions didn\u2019t shock me actually at all, nor did they impress me or particularly pique my interest.<\/p>\n
What it did do was annoy me. I felt invaded, intruded upon, for of course, I was.<\/p>\n
Then he went to the biggie, a gleam in his eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn a scale of one to ten,\u201d he smirked, \u201chow attracted would you say you are to me, right now?\u201d
\nHe sat back, utterly pleased with himself, oozing pride.
\nI grimaced, actually flinched. It was that painful.
\nBut I did not leave.<\/p>\n
He smiled, almost cruelly, and drummed his fingers infuriatingly on the table top.
\n\u201cOh, I can\u2019t answer that. I don\u2019t know,\u201d I stammered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo really. Mizz Journalist! Do it, you can say. C\u2019mon.\u201d He pushed, I resisted. It would have been romantic, a mating dance if it weren\u2019t so utterly terrorizing.
\n\u201cC\u2019mon,\u201d he needled, \u201cJust say a number\u2026 1 to 10, c\u2019mon!\u201d<\/p>\n
I squirmed, stared, started, bit my lip to keep the words inside, but still, I didn\u2019t leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine, I don\u2019t know, 6.\u201d I\u2019d inflated the number it should go without saying. Substantially. Why, I\u2019m not sure I could say, even now, some several years later.<\/p>\n
He nodded. He smiled. He took it all in. \u201chmm\u2026\u201d The smirking continued.
\n\u201cWell,\u201d he started, though I hadn\u2019t asked for reciprocation, and certainly didn\u2019t want it. \u201cWell, I would have given you a 9, but\u2026 you\u2019re not very confident, so I lowered it. I give you a 7.5.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t leave. Still.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201c So, journalist, eh?\u201d the guy chewing on the swizzle stick across the table from me was saying to me. \u201cYes, yes,\u201d I sighed. I didn\u2019t know well enough then. Didn\u2019t know not to engage this sort of fellow. He snorted. \u201cWell, I can ask good questions,\u201d he boasted. \u201cJust try me! I bet I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[622],"tags":[35,46],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words","tag-single","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/washwords.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}